As fangraphs pointed out, Fister has been a top 15 pitcher in baseball over the past 3 years and you could argue top 10 when you account for him being a ground ball pitcher on a team with horrendous infield defense. If you want to argue Shields is better, have at it, not going to waste my time at that; at worst they are pretty even. Just to use as an example, Fister (an extreme ground ball pitcher) had a babip on ground balls of .287 last year. He's going to the Nationals were their starters had the following BABIP on ground balls:
Strasburg .239
Gio .215
Zimmermann .193
Haren .296
Jordan .253
How are you coming to the conclusion that Ray is a top 3 prospect for the Nats? Based on John Sickels last year he wasn't ranked in the top 20. I actually think Sickels was low on him and BA had him as the 5th best. I think he's a solid C+ type prospect, not anywhere close to sniffing a top 100 list.
Miss labeling of Krol? How do you determine he's a swing man in Detroit? He was utilized as a LOOGY bc he can't get right handed hitters out. This is a guy that was a throw in player to be named later to go with A.J. Cole (a top 3 prospect) for Morse a year ago.
Lombardozzi is a utility man that could have trouble making the Tigers roster. He can hold a glove at 3B and LF, but is essentially a 2B (can't play SS). He's hit .264/.297/.342 in 755 career plate appearences for the Nats. Probably cant be a starter bc he doesnt get on base, hit for power, or field very well. What exactly makes him interesting?
Either way, to get a top 15 (heck you can say top 30 if you want) starting pitcher with 2 more years of arby control for that is crazy. Even if the prospect was a 25-50 ish prospect instead of Ray, it would have been a steal. I guess the extreme Detroit optimist can believe that Lombo turns into Infante, Krol turns into Venters, and Ray becomes a number 3 starter and Fister is a top 50 pitcher in baseball? Does that even make the trade fair?
